Chapter 1

Christmas. A time spent with family, friends, and everyone else you love. A time of pure joy and sincerity. The one season where you can decorate a Christmas tree, sing carols, and unwrap presents by the fire. It’s the picture perfect family’s dream. It’s what I experienced as a child. As I got older, it wasn’t as much fun as I would have liked it to be. I guess I had realized just how imperfect my family really is.

I’m Amanda Applegate. I’m 18 years old, and used to the idea that the holiday season wasn’t holly and jolly, but extremely played out. I am a drama student at my local high school, and around Christmas time, I ice skated for fun. It was my only form of relief when my hectic life got to me.

This year, it would be just another Christmas where I go to my yearly family reunion party and meet the same family members. At least, that’s what I thought it would be like.

10 days till’ Christmas

The annoyingly high-pitched beeping of my alarm clock in my ear jolted me from my sleep. Ugh! Today was the 16th of December. It was officially the beginning of my holiday torture.

I could smell cookies and pies being baked in the kitchen all the way upstairs in my bed. It was what dragged me out of bed.

“Thank god for baked deserts,” I mumbled as I stood up from the mattress.

I then took a shower, and went back into my room to get dressed.

Today was my annual holiday family reunion, or in other words “Black Friday”. Every year we held a huge party in the reception hall of the Hilton hotel, here in Norwalk, Connecticut. I always bumped into the same relatives.

My uncle Daniel always greeted me with a smile, a stupid joke, and a pinch on my butt. He was the pervert of the family and I tried my best to avoid him as much as I could. My aunt Jamie was a def as you could possibly be. I didn’t now any sing language so she always had her nurse following her around. Sometimes, if her nurse was talking to another person and I said hello, she would scream “What?” at the top of her lungs. It was extremely embarrassing at times. Especially if there was someone I had my eyes on around. Those were just two of my weird family members that were to attend this party.

I sifted through my wardrobe and decided on a chocolate brown corduroy skirt, and a red wine colored shirt that had an off the shoulder neckline. I also wore my black high heeled, knee high boots that zipped up the side. I straightened my hair, so it was smooth and silky, put on some make- up, sprayed a little Burberry Brit perfume and walked down stairs to see what everyone else was doing.

I peeked into the living room, and saw my 20 year-old brother, who was home from college for the holidays, on the couch watching football with my dad. I swear I felt like I had amnesia. They both did that the same time of day, the same day every year. I was getting sick of it actually.

When I entered the kitchen a wall of cookies and pie scented air hit me in the face. I couldn’t move for a second. I could only sniff the air around me.

“Mom, that smell is amazing!” I mumbled.

“Watch out hunny,” she said as she brushed by me with a tray full of cookies that was covered by plastic wrap. I assumed she covered them until the party that was in an hour. That’s if you could even call it a party.

My mother was dressed in her normal holiday attire. She wore black slacks and a red and green sweater that sometimes had bells hanging from it or even red bows. She had a new one every year. Her short brown hair was flipped out and from her ears dangled tiny red and green bell earrings. Her black high heels clicked against the linoleum floor as she kept brushing past me with cookies and pies and all sorts of delicious foods that she gave to my father to pack in the car.

“You better get in the car, Amanda, or well be late,” she told me, just to get me out of her way. So, I grabbed my black pea coat and dashed out the front door.

My brother, who was helping my dad pack the car with deserts and presents, was wearing khaki pants black dress shoes, a black suit jacket that covered a white button up shirt, and of course his red and white striped Christmas tie that he wore every time we had a holiday family reunion. He, like me, was sick of the whole Christmas spirit that my parents put out for us every year. But we both just gritted our teeth and learned to deal with it.

“You ready for this?” he asked me as he opened the car door.

“Yeah, lets just go and get through it as best as we can. It’s Christmas, we should make mom and dad happy for once. Even if it means dealing with perverted relatives.”

“Gotcha’” he said as he clicked his seatbelt on.

As we drove through town, I saw the people Christmas shopping and strolling down the street. It had snowed recently so there was snow on the sides of the roads and sidewalks. I loved the snow around the holidays. It put me in the spirit of things. It wasn’t Christmas to me if it didn’t snow.

The windows of the shops around us were beautifully decorated and lit up. Everything was so cheerful. Since I ice skated for fun, I was anticipating the next time I got back on the ice. Which was very soon. The town sports center had an indoor and outdoor ice rink. I loved the outdoor rink because there were lights and wreaths everywhere. It was beautiful to me.

We arrived at the hotel a little while later. There was a cardboard sign that said “Applegate Holiday Reunion in ball room” with an arrow poi8nting to the door right by the entrance to the parking lot.

“Okay, here we go”

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